The CNIB Eye Van is at Lady Minto Hospital starting Mon., April 8 until Thurs., April 18. And on board is ophthalmologist Dr. Steve Arshinoff, whose first experience with the van was in 1978, as a young intern.
He says that at that time, hospital head Dr. Naranjan convinced him that the travelling eye clinic should serve the whole north. That has led to the Eye Van being recognized as one of the most recognized access programs for remote areas in the world.
“I talk all over the world when they ask me to speak about it,” Dr. Arshinoff says. “ Many places have asked us to send them drawings so they could copy it. It’s one of the most popular programs as far as our Ministry of Health goes, because they support us very strongly and view it as a very, very good program.”
Dr. Arshinoff says patients treated in the Eye Van do as well as any seen by specialists in large southern cities.
And this year, its Cochrane visit features a study being done on a new piece of equipment that’s used for glaucoma patients.
“And because the Eye Van has limited space, we’re interested in studying these devices and seeing if we can start to replace some of our huge things with smaller devices and then have more space for us to have more things that we can take with us in the Eye Van.”